Disease prevalence in US states before & after vaccine introduction 🧪

From Edward Tufte & graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...

This should be the lead story in all major national news outlets. Public health people prefer to stay out of the limelight unless there is no other choice. I can’t overstate how bad things have to be for 9 former CDC directors to band together and pen an op-ed in the NYT warning the entire country.

There is no conceivable interpretation of the law of war in which a camera set up nearby legitimizes a mass casualty double tap strike on a protected civilian site like a hospital.

The fact that Israel is citing it as if it meets some standard should, by itself, trigger a halt in weapons to Israel.

We’ve discovered a literal miracle with almost unlimited potential and it’s being scrapped for *no reason whatsoever*. This isn’t even nihilism, it’s outright worship of death and human suffering.

I know a lot of you have already heard or read about BDS Movement's call against Microsoft, and felt weird and bad about it all, but decided to move forward as normal because of some degree of ambiguity.

"What service is Microsoft providing?"

Here it is, clear as day. A direct line to death.

www.genengnews.com/topics/infec...

Crazy what one allele can do, and very exciting to see this working for two different malarial species in Stephensi mosquitos.

This was posted this morning by Humans of New York and I think this captures exactly what we are all experiencing right now

Donald Trump wants corrupt foreign leaders to build concentration camps to hold US citizens in an attempt to circumvent the constitution and rule of law.

“They don’t view an honest discussion of policy as something they need to slow down and do.” We’re digging into the Trump team’s logic, or lack-there-of, with @petebuttigieg.bsky.social.

1) Do something autocratic
2) Wait to see how people react
3) If they don't push back hard enough, carry on
4) If they do push back hard enough, "pause" it
5) Illegally consolidate more power
6) Repeat

It doesn't matter how genuine your feelings about native people are if you allow the departments and teams that work for them to be disemboweled. Either you are standing with native people, or you are not. Either you have learned from the past, or you have not.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/u...

Trump is imposing a 10% tariff on the Heard and McDonald Islands.

The Heard and McDonald Islands are uninhabited.

This is true: The Trump administration said it has imposed a 10% tariff on the British Indian Ocean Territory, whose only inhabitants are the U.S. and U.K. service members at the military base on Diego Garcia.

This makes me sick. What's happening would be awful even if they were posing as serious bureaucrats making painful but necessary decisions with some gravitas and dignity. But they're killing programs, which will kill people, which will kill US soft power; they know this and they're gleeful about it.

A key part of this story is how Elon Musk and his followers have been manufacturing consent for exactly this kind of action—repeatedly pushing ideas like abandoning due process, celebrating Bukele and his brutal detainment and detention tactics in El Salvador, on X.

I just wrote about this today

www.thestranger.com/guest-editor...

A beautiful remembrance from Colleen Echohawk in @thestranger.com of a great advocate for affordable housing, someone who by his own admission had "always been driven by the belief that everyone deserves a foundation of home, health, and hope."

Beautiful piece in @orionmagazine.bsky.social on the queerness of nature in our times orionmagazine.org/article/the-...

africanarguments.org/2025/02/how-...

Really interesting read. The obvious pride taken by the Zabbaleen in Cairo contrasting with (at least my) Western understanding of garbage and recycling collection and the environmental and fiscal impact it has was eye opening.

Fantastic hackathon on spatial mapping in R this morning led by Dr Punam Amratia from MAP. 181 attendees! All past materials available here: ammnet.github.io/ammnet-hacka...

Every US scientist needs to 100% clear that this is a fundamental attack on the process of science itself. If allowed to stand it will be the end of US science as we know it. Staying quiet because it does not (yet) target your work is not an option.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

BREAKING NEWS: The Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration must comply with a district court order and pay for work already done. We are taking on this administration in the courts to hold them accountable.

abcnews.go.com/Politics/sup...

Rubio terminated 5800 USAID contracts – more than 90% of its foreign aid programs – in defiance of the courts.

Here’s a list of just some of the lifesaving awards that were terminated. Nearly all were Congressionally mandated. They’ve saved millions of lives. 🧵

"The grant appears to have been tagged for the repeated use of “POC,” an acronym often used for “people of color” but in this context meaning “point of care”"

"The sorry truth is that without enormous pressure from the party base, a significant number of senators and representatives won’t have it in them to oppose Trump. We, the concerned citizens, will have to force them to do their duty. We’ll also have to march, sooner rather than later."